Quarterback honored by Ford

September 27, 2012, 7:00 pm by Phil Schoch

Mike Richardson’s record-setting performance against Boerne Champion last week has earned him recognition as the Built Ford Tough Texas High School Football Player of the Week in Class 4A.

Each week Ford singles out a player from each of Texas high school divisions for recognition of outstanding play.

Last Thursday, the Marble Falls senior turned in one of those instant classic games. The 6-1, 193-pound Richardson completed 35 of 45 passes for a Texas state record 724 yards and seven touchdowns as the Mustangs edged Boerne Champion, 62-55. 

Champion’s Kyle Poeske, the Ford Player of the Week in Weeks 0-1, threw for 595 yards, fourth best in Texas history.

"We had a couple of 600-plus yards games when I was at Southlake Carroll,” said first-year Mustangs Coach Todd Dodge, "but I’ve never seen anything like this.”  Six of Marble Falls’ scoring drives consumed six plays or less, but it was Richardson’s one rushing TD that gave the Mustangs just enough to hold on against the previously unbeaten Chargers.  The previous state pass yardage mark (683) was held by Wichita Falls’ Dylan Sheffield, a Ford Player of the Week in 2011.

A 3.8 GPA student, Richardson runs track and participates in the Elementary Mustang program, which mentors local elementary school students.  Through four games this season, he has thrown for 20 touchdowns and only one interception.

"It is so much fun to coach this young man,” says Dodge, who spent the last six years at FBS North Texas and Pitt.  "He knows he has to lead and his style is to encourage everyone around him.  He has an amazing work ethic, eating lunch at the fieldhouse instead of the cafeteria, just so he can watch more video and learn to be better. When you realize this was only his fourth game in our offense, it’s amazing how far he has come.”